Abstract

Teaching grammar to children can be a time for tutors to get creative! This technique, "Around the World with Nouns," helps young students conceptualize what nouns are. LaTarsha Bernard, a second year AmeriCorps member with America Reads — Mississippi, shared this effective practice in November 2005 via the America Learns Network.

Back to top

Issue

A solid foundation in knowing the parts of speech is essential for literacy development skills in both reading and writing.

Back to top

Action

LaTarsha Bernard used the following approach with elementary school students to help them learn about nouns:

Materials Needed 

• Age-appropriate magazines (grade levels second through fourth)
• Poster board
• Glue, paste, rubber cement or tape
• Scissors

Learning Strategy

Step 1:

Have students cut pictures from magazines that describe either people, places, or things.

Step 2:

Draw three columns on the poster board, and label one column as "People," one as "Places," and one as "Things."

Step 3:

Have students glue their pictures under the correct category. After the pictures have been glued, use the board to introduce and reinforce the concept of a noun. You might say, "Take a look at all these pictures. They describe people, places and things. Whenever we use a person, place or thing in our writing, we can also call that word a noun. For example, if I wrote the sentence, 'Jimmy is happy,' the word 'Jimmy' is a noun because 'Jimmy' is a person. A noun is always a person, a place or a thing."

Step 4:

Add some edging around the board and display it in the classroom, hallway or another public place.

Back to top

Context

Research from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (NICH) has shown that all young children learn vocabulary by mastering nouns first, then verbs and adjectives, regardless of the language they are learning to speak. In fact, nouns comprise the greatest proportion of all 20-month-old children's vocabularies.

For the study, Marc Bornstein and Linda Cote, researchers in NICHD's Child and Family Research Laboratory collaborated with researchers in Argentina, Belgium, France, Israel, Italy and the Republic of Korea to study language development in children learning to speak Spanish, Dutch, French, Hebrew, Italian, Korean, and American English.

According to Dr. Bornstein, "There is a universal order to how children learn language. No matter what language they speak, children are acquiring classes of words in a particular order because of what the children are bringing to the task." Dr. Bornstein theorized that children learn nouns first because nouns are concrete things that can be seen and touched.
(These findings first appeared in the July-August 2004 issue of Child Development, and are cited in the National Institute of Health, News Release, September 14, 2004.)

One of America Learns’ core activities involves facilitating nationwide tutor-to-tutor and mentor-to-mentor learning.  The practical, easy-to-use strategies that tutors and mentors share via the America Learns Network can be implemented in a variety environments.  America Learns’ internal experts and partners also create new strategies to address the challenges that tutors and mentors experience in the field – from content issues to interpersonal and social-emotional development issues.

Back to top

Outcome

With a little extra tutoring and focus, those children who are having trouble differentiating nouns from other parts of speech will be able to do so more easily. Additionally, the reinforcement of having a board display that demonstrates the concept of nouns may help those who are visual learners, and all students to remember and celebrate their achievements.

Back to top

Posted On

Back to top

For More Information

Back to top

Resources

For a good listing of dictionary and vocabulary resources, see the website, Embracing the Child.

Source Documents

Related Practices

• Understanding how children learn to read

Back to top

Related sites

America Reads – Mississippi

• Login or register to post comments
• 
• Print-friendly page
• Send to friend